I got stuck in Barcelona

No worries, I'm still alive.
I just got financially stuck here in Barcelona because i hugely overestimated the money i could earn here.
And because i have to cover a lot of things in my blog now then dont feel offended if i forgot to mentions you.

Between 24.11 and 01.12 i took some time off from everything and just stayed in the apartment the hole time. That consisted off watching movies from the moment i woke up until i went to sleep. And sometimes even for the hole night also with out sleeping.
But that's good because now i have watched most of the good movies from 2014.

Tuesday (02.12) i decided that i move out from the apartment and start earning some money.
But once i arrived in the center, one very lovely girl with a beautiful smile came to talk with me.
So we decided that we walk around the city together, go to a park and to the beach to watch sunset with some street artists concerts. So i didn't earn any money but i had a very nice day.

Then Wednesday after almost two weeks of staying in Barcelona i tried to earn money here.
But that didn't go so well and half of the day was also raining.
And because now i didn't have a dry place to sleep i went to the main street in the center, hoping that somebody will come to talk with me and offer a place to sleep.

After two hours i got myself a place to sleep in an apartment where 6 guys lived. And they even had a room that was turned into a proper greenhouse with ventilation's and everything (if you know what i mean).

Thursday was pretty much the same story. But instead of 6 guys it was 5 nice girls and with out a greenhouse.

For Friday i had high hopes on earning money. I did slept until 4 pm but still. So far in every city Ive stayed there has been always more money to be earned on the weekends.
But apparently that's not the case in Barcelona. Here the streets are too crowded on the weekends and everybody just wants to get out from there and has no time for something else.

Saturday was a bit better for earning money so in the evening i went to my home bar where i decided to have a beer. There i met some people who offered me beers and tequila shots. The last thing from the bar i can remember was a tequila shot right before closing and a drunk idea to go to a karaoke bar with them.
What happened in the next 3 hours i have no idea. My memory comes back somewhere 2 am with me sitting in a park in the other side of the city doing a cigarette and with no money (i only had 14 euros anyway).

Sunday when i woke up with no money and no tobacco the plan was clear. It was time to earn some money.

In the late evening my situation was a bit better already but that's  not the case here.
I was sitting in the main street again around 12 pm when one backpacker came to talk with me.
He offered me those 1 euro beers that the beer guys sell on the streets and we drank and talked for the hole night.
Then around 5 am the police came and said that its not allowed to drink in public here in Barcelona.
We said that we didn't know that (and we didn't because so far in every other city its been allowed to drink at least a beer) so we put away our beers. Then 10 minutes later we decided to have another on and the same police saw us again. That time they already asked our documents and started writing a fine. In the mean time i went to the other police officer and asked what happens if i don't pay a fine because i only had 8 euros. Then thay talked something in Spanish, threw away the fine with a warning that next time we go straight to the Police department. So we called it a night and went to sleep.

Monday and Tuesday nothing really happened and i just tried to earn some money.
Again i just earned enough for food and tobacco and for some occasional beer.

Wednesday i went to my Mike-s bar (the host in whose place i stayed for almost two weeks) to get my new debit card that was sent to his place from Estonia. And he offered me free beers for the whole night but in return i had to help him out with the cleaning before closing.
And he also decided that i can stay in his place again but i have to leave in the mornings so i could earn some money.

Thursday i tried to earn money again for the whole day but still it was going bad.

Then Friday was the first day it was going a bit better. But that's mostly because i changed places constantly and was out until 3 am.

Saturday and Sunday are like one day for me. I woke up when it was sunset already and went to earn money again until 3 am. But i still wasn't sleepy so sat on the main street on the benches again until 8 am. Then i was hungry and a bit sleepy so i went to McDonald's to have some coffees and burgers. But before i could drank my coffees i felled a sleep. And then 5 hours later i woke up and walked down from the second floor and the workers just laughed (Ive visited McDonald's a lot here and the girls know and like me).
After that it started raining so i went to the bar where i sat for the hole day.

In the evening it had stopped raining for two hours so i thought that its okey to sleep outside.
But i was wrong and half an hour later it started raining again and was raining for the hole night.
And i got very-very whet when sleeping. But at least my sleeping bag holds the heat in so it wasn't very cold.

Monday it was still raining for the hole day so i sat at my bar again and tried to dry out.
In the evening i called Mike and went to sleep in his place again.

Tuesday i took some time off again and we watched movies together.

Wednesday i tried to earn money again but still the same story.
But in the evening i went to my bar again and there was a pub quiz night again.
Our team lost only with 0,5 points unfortunately. But the winners were kind so they shared their Jagermeister with us.

Thursday i earned money for the first half a day. Then in the evening i went to my bar for a coffee and met a guy who offered me many beers again. So i stayed there for the whole evening again.

Friday in the first half of the day i earned money and in the evening i went to my bar. And there was a 2 for 1 night so i could even afford buying beers and met some cool people again who also offered drinks.
And Friday should have been the last night here for me also.

Saturday i went to my bar to say bye to all the workers and other regulars but because i got there late i decided that I'm going to stay one more night. So i tried some money in the night time.

Sunday should have been for sure the last day for me here in Barcelona.
But again i slept until 4pm and then i went to say bye once more.
After that i went in front of the cathedral to write my diary. But because I'm a really lousy diary writer i had to cover 25 days and pages. And that took 4 hours for me. And by that time the big shops were i could buy food were closed and also the Internet points so i couldn't write a blog post also.

And also actually one of the reasons why it was so hard to earn money here was that its not allowed.
I always had to keep an eye on police (and theres a lot of them here) and hide my hat. When they did saw me there was 3 options. They saw me but were nice and didn't do nothing. They saw me and asked me to leave. Or the worst case was that they saw me, took away my money from the hat and asked to leave.
One of the police officers was even so serious that he said that i cant have my sign with me because its an advertisement to my blog and i have to pay for the city hall for that.

I'm going to make some little advertisement to my home bar also.
Its called Travel Bar and its on Carrer de la Boqueria (take the first street to the right on Rambla after the McDonald's. There you can have different free walking tours everyday and many other things. Also there is a great staff working over there. And when you go there say hi to Henry from me (the bartender with pony tail) and tip him well because he is an awesome guy.

And I'm not so enthusiastic tourist like most of the people are. Ive been in Barcelona for a month and I'm still leaving without visiting Sagrada familia. Before i did the tourist tour usually on the last day before leaving to take photos for my blog but without camera i dont care so much

And today i already received some Christmas presents in the form of money on my bank account so i can finally leave with out worrying about money. The next stop should be Valencia.

So far 2577 km.

More than half way trough

For a start I'm sorry to say that this blog post is not going to be as colorful with photos as i thought it would be. During the first night in Barcelona somebody stole my camera.

So Friday evening i still decided to leave from Perpignan because earning money was a bit difficult because of the police. But it was a short 4 hour walk because it started raining and i found a bridge under what i could sleep.

Saturday the road started to climb because i was close to the border in Pyrenees. Also the road was pretty narrow and often dangerous in the mountains because it was pitch dark. But i wanted to arrive in Spain so i kept walking.
At 8 pm i arrived at border.

(this is the only photo i could upload from my camera before it got stolen)

And from there the road was very good. Just downhill and the road was wide also.
Then i walked trough an interesting town called La jounqurea. The place was full of huge truck stops, lot of prostitutes even in the town, big supermarkets and a lot of tobacco shops.
I walked out of the city and found a nice place next to the road to sleep.

Sunday just little bit before  Figueres i saw a guy who i met back in Montpellier. He travels on his bike and with his music. For him Spain wasn't so good so his going back to France. Anyway we did some cigarettes and had a beer and wished good luck to each other.

Then in the evening i wanted to go to sleep around 11 pm. But because i saw lightening before, i wanted to walk until i find a try place to sleep. But i didn't find any dry place to sleep and then there was also a big part of road under construction so i had to keep walking. Then at 2 am i found a nice place to sleep but when i started to make my bed i heard people talking that there is somebody walking on the field. So i picked my bag up and walked another hour before i found a place to sleep.

Monday i wanted to walk trough Girona so i could by a Spanish map and dictionary.
At one moment i saw a big city down to my right and then i remembered that the bigger roads go around the cities (from the border until Barcelona i have been walking without a map).
But at least there was a gas station on my way so i could buy some food.

Then later in the evening the road i was walking on transformed into A category highway. But luckily then i saw one bar where one guy showed me on Google maps where i could walk so it was okay again.

Tuesday at noon it was 2500 km somewhere in the middle of nothing.
In the evening i was almost at the coast so there was always some kind of a town and no empty areas. But in the city i found a culvert pipe just big enough for me crawl in and to sleep under the main road.

Wednesday i was at the coast again and the road was very beautiful again. The hole day i took it easy with long stops because i wanted to arrive in  Barcelona Friday at noon and not Thursday evening.

Thursday i took it even slower because i found out that Barcelona was even closer when i thought it would be. For the hole day i could walk on the beach line which was nice.
in the evening one guy stopped and in Spanish he asked where I'm going to sleep.
We talked little bit with google translate and then he offered me a place to sleep.
We drank some wine and talked with google translate for the hole evening.

Friday Barcelona was just around the corner. So i walked on the beach line again. Later i went into the city to do some sightseeing. Barcelona seems to be awesome. I don't know what it exactly is yet but i like it.

In the evening i sat in one big square and three British guys came to talk with me and offered some beer. Later they invited me to bar where we drank more beers and crazy 80 degree absinthe shots until somewhere around 4 am. Then i started looking for a place to sleep but i passed out on the bench and later the police came. But it wasn't so bad at all like all the people warned me. They just said that i cant sleep here and showed me a park where i could sleep and it was fine.

Saturday wanted to go to the cinema to see the new hunger games. It took me almost half a day to find the cinema but i found it. Then i had little bit time before the movie started so i went to a bar.
There the owner saw my sign and we talked little bit and after that he gave me his address and said that i could sleep in his place.

Later after the movie i went back to the city center and then i saw a girl who i met back in Genova. so we had few beers and talked little bit. After that i went to my host place.

Sunday i slept until 3 pm. After that i walked little bit around the city and in the evening i came back.
We talked little more and then went to sleep.

And today i slept until 2 pm again and haven't done much anything.
But my lovely host said that i can stay in his place until Sunday so that's perfect.

So far 2577 km.

Sleeping with animals and i got a nice present

Thursday (06.11) after the lunch with jerome i filled up my back pack with water and food and started walking around 4pm. I found the right road out of the city relatively easily and didn't got lost.
In the evening on the road i saw several times wild pigs on the fields or crossing the road behind or front of me. But now its not so scary anymore because i have a good head lamp and i can see where they are.

For the night i went to sleep in some bushes and when i had made my bed ready i heard some noises again. I was curious with who I'm going to spend the night and found out that the place was full of rats.
The part of France I've been walking has a serious rat problem since Cannes. I see them in the cities and even more on the road sides. Maybe because here is so many grape fields.
But i was tired and the bed was ready so i still went to sleep over there.

Friday i walked trough a town called Sete where one guy stopped me and ivited me to a bar.
We drank few classesof whiskey and talked about my trip. After that i walked trough a street where they were filming some sets for movie or something like that.
The evening walk was very calm because i had a nice bicycle Lane for 20 km.
And in the night when i was setting my bed up i heard some noises again and was curious again.
This time i shared the sleeping place with European otters. They were nice and friendly.

Saturday during the lunch time i took some time out and cooked my favorite pasta Carbonara. I even cooked more so could eat it for two days.

In the evening it started raining around 10 pm. But luckily i found a little cabin where i could sleep in the corner of the field just after 1 km of walking.
And there i had some neighbours again. There was a lot of baby spiders and some big spiders who i couldn't identify. They were between 2,5 - 4 cm in diameter and ranging from brown to very dark brown with some hair and lived in the cracks of the walls in a web tunnel (if you know the species i mean leave a comment with the name). And also some rats again. But it was raining and it was a dry place so i decided to stay.

Sunday morning i woke up and i was still okey. I did my last cigarette and started walking.
I needed to buy tobacco but the next town was 5 km away. When i arrived there everything was closed. So i walked another 10 km to next town and again everything was closed. So in the evening i arrived in Narbonne where i could finally buy some tobacco. Also the road was full of ugly prostitutes again.

Then i walked out of the city and went to sleep in a culvert pipe under the road because it was very windy. But this time i was there alone there.

Monday was nothing special and nothing happened. Just slept in a ditch because it was very windy again.

Tuesday it was very windy again and the wind  blew straight against me so it was very difficult to walk but in the evening i still arrived in Perpignan.

And the good thing is that this time i never walked on the wrong roads and never got lost.

When i arrived in the center i sat down in a park and just few minutes later one man saw my sign and the first thing he asked was that if i need a place to sleep.

So we went to his place with his two lovely dogs and we talked little bit and went to sleep.

Wednesday we went to the city and he showed me some places where i could try to earn some money so i did some begging.

At one moment one guy came to me and blamed me that i took his money that he had lost somewhere but i had no idea what he was talking about so he left.
About an hour later he came back with some friends and the same story continued.
Then one guy pulled his shirt little bit up and showed his gun and asked again where is the money and i was still calm with a little smile on my face. Then they noticed that in the area there are cameras and said that its on the camera and they will call the police, which was fine by me. And i think at that moment they finally realised that i don't have their money and they left me alone.

Little later the police came to me and said that its forbidden to beg in Perpignand and asked also my passport. Although different police officers passed several times before and said nothing. Also this is the first time in France when somebody asked for my passport.

But it was 5 pm already so i went back to my host place and we talked and drank some wine.

And he also made me a very nice gift.
He gave me a camera so i could take photos from my road again and post them to the blog.
So from now on the blog will be more colorful again.

Today i will probably go to the streets again and try to earn some money again and hope that the police isn't a problem. And i can stay in his place for one more night, after that some couch surfers come and my couch will be occupied.

But if the police comes again it is very likely that i will leave tomorrow and start walking towards Barcelona and hope for the best. But sleeping in Spain is probably going to be more difficult because i know that its forbidden to sleep on the streets in Spain and you can get a fine for doing that.

And this is the guy who i met little bit before Toulon and invited me to the party.

So far 2377 km.

The plans never work out for me

So Sunday evening i arrived in the center of Montpellier.
In the first night i walked little bit around the city and sat on the main square where some people came to chat with me.
Because i saw that the city is full of homeless people i didn't want to sleep in the center of the city because of security reasons for the first night.
I remembered that little bit out of the old center there was an overpass under what i could sleep (forecast said that it will be raining in the night.
But unfortunately there was a fence and i was too tired to walk back so i went sleep next to it and the first night was horrible.
For a start the place was just 3 meters from railway and in the night big cargo trains can make a lot of noise.
Plus in the night it started raining heavily several times but luckily there was an old mattress next to me with what i could build a basic shelter.

Monday i went to another tour in the city to find some begging places.
After that i did begging in many different places and in different times but they all were horrible and i didn't make almost any money.
I think the reason for that is that the city is full of beggars and homeless people and half of them are young people. And also the streets in the center are very wide so its very easy for people to just ignore and pass by.

In the evening one man with his daughter came to me and offered a place to sleep.
So we went to his place were we talked about my trip and had another good dinner and shower.

Tuesday we had our breakfast together and then we all went our separate ways.
I went back to the main square. There little bit before 10 am one university student came to me with a bottle of wine and asked for a bottle opener. We started to talk and he offered some wine to me also. But in 20 minutes time all kinds of morning drinkers started to gather around us so i left.

In the day time i tried begging in many different places again but once again it didn't work out.

In the evening few drinking buddies back from Pisa recognized me. I met them on the main drinking square in Pisa (Piazza dei Cavalieri) and there he told me that he will buy a van and invited me to travel with him.
And he actually bought a van and has been traveling for several months already and somehow we happened to be at the same time in Montpellier.

On the road they also had picked up a musician from Peruu. So in the evening we walked on the streets while he played latin american music. After that they invited me to one Latino bar where we had a drink.
But the girls in that bar sure do know how to dance.
Later we went back to their van and i slept also in their van.
Someday i should have photos from this night also.

Wednesday i decided not to try begging anymore.
I saw that the new movie Interstellar is out in the cinemas and because i haven't visited cinema for a year i went to watch a movie in a proper way.

In the evening one who had red my blog recognized me by my sign and came to talk with me.
He offered me a couch to sleep at his place so we went there.

He was very curious about my trip so we talked about that a lot with a little drink.

I recommend to visit Montpellier when you are in South France. Because the Montpellier itself is a very beautiful city with many beautiful sights and buildings. And if you are young person then its especially a very good place to visit because its a university city and here is a lot of young people. And here is so many young beautiful girls.

But unfortunately for me I'm losing more money in this city than i can earn so i have to leave earlier than i planned.
I planned before to go from here straight to Barcelona but now i think that i will do a stop in Perpignan which is the last city before Spain. There i hope i can earn some money because otherwise i will arrive in Barcelona with empty pockets.

And right now I'm going for a coffee with the guy who hosted me on Monday evening and the i will start walking again.

So far 2205 km.

Making some wrong turns

Wednesday (22.10) evening the wind went down a bit and i decided to leave from Saint-Tropez.
When i was ordering my last coffee for the road.

One French couple saw my sign and they came to talk with me.
They offered me some Coffee and money for the road.

After 3 km of walking i met one small fan who gave me a pack of cookies.

The road was mostly quiet with no cars and no wind because i chose a small mountain road.

For Thursday i don't have much to say. Only that the road was still very nice and it was in the mountains with a view to the sea.

Friday was a bit more adventurous.

In the first half of the day my plan was to walk trough the city of Hyeres but somehow i managed to go around Hyeres without even noticing it before it was too late.

In the evening a car full of girls stopped and wanted to talk with me.
After 10 minutes of talking they left and gave me few beers for the road.

Little later one guy on a bicycle stopped and talked with me. We took some photos and he left.
Then 15 minutes later he came back and invited me to a party and asked how long would it take for me to get to Toulon.
So 2 hours after when i arrived in Toulon he picked me up and we drove to the mountains.There was another villa with pool and everything where the party was.
There was about 15 people at the party and 4 of them were girls and only two of the girls spoke English. But luckily 1 am even the two girls who didn't spoke English started speaking English.
Somewhere 2 am my ride back to Toulon left and i decided to stay at the party for a bit longer.

In the morning i woke up somewhere next to the road and had some hard time figuring out where the  i was. I walked down to the first village where a girl showed me on the map where i was and the direction i have to go.
And because the place was just a bit up from Toulon i didn't bothered to go back there since the km count wouldn't change a lot.

So from there i continued my way. Somewhere with a big hangover i made a wrong turn and started walking towards Aubagne which shouldn't be on my road.
But when i realized the mistake, i was already half way there.

Saturday was a lot better day for me because i felt fresh again.
Around 4 pm i arrived at the border of Marseille and everything was still going good.
Little bit later things got more complicated because of my shitty map (the cities on my map are just one big blurr).
When i got more inside to Marseille i got to some wrong roads and into probably not so good neighbourhoods. There some pretty suspicious people with who you have to keep an eye on their hands  came to talk with me. But i tried to keep the conversation short as possible and moved on.
Later i remembered that at the back of the map i have a smaller scale map of Marseille and then i figured out where exactly i was and where i have to go.
I got out of the city around 11 pm.

Monday i did some wrong turns again.
The first time i figured it out after the first 500 meters when i saw the road i should be walking on, on my right side.
The second time wasn't so easy. I sat and walked around about an hour before i started looking where the airplanes are landing. Then i looked on the map where the airport is and soon i got to the right road again.

Tuesday evening on the road one man stopped and gave me a kebab wrap other than that nothing happened.

Wednesday was a short walking day for me.
At 2 pm i arrived in Arles where i went to Dechalton to do some shopping.
I bought some warmer clothes, new and bigger back pack, camping gas and some cooking stuff, new sleeping bag and some smaller things. Unfortunately i didn't got myself a tent. I think not so many people want to go camping in November so they don't sell tents anymore (besides one mountain tent that cost 140 euros).
Then i went to supermarket and bought some food and my own espresso machine.

Later in the evening when i arrived in the center of the city i gave my old back pack and sleeping bag away to one homeless guy who was very happy when he got them.

Then i started walking out of the city and again i got stuck in one place.
I walked around and sat about an hour  trying to find the right road.
Eventually a police car stopped and helped me out. I was sitting in the beginning of one road that seemed to be correct one but the road name didn't match with the one on the map.
The police said that its the correct road and then i started walking again.

Thursday morning was awesome.
I woke up and the sleeping bag is still dry from the inside (apparently its water resistant).
Usually its a little bit wet from the humidity.
Then i take out my camping gas and espresso machine and make myself some good coffee without even getting out of my sleeping bag.

Later in the day i found a nice quiet place to sit down and again i take out my cooking stuff and make some good coffee and cook pasta and enjoy the warm proper food.
The same goes for Friday also.

Saturday one car stopped and talked with me a bit and gave me some water and offered all kinds of other stuff that i unfortunately already have including a med pack.

Little later about 5 km before the center of Montpellier another guy pulls over and asked if i have a place to stay for tonight and offers me a place to stay. Even though the plan was to go to Montpellier i couldn't say no to warm shower, good food and nice soft bed so i accepted the offer.

So in the evening we talked and had some very good dinner.

And today also a good breakfast and lunch time together with their four months old son.

And now I'm finishing this blog post at their home and after that i will walk to the center of Montpellier where i plan to stay little bit again.

And one photo back from Saint-Tropez when i was in irish pub drinking beer and smoking pipe with some people from India.

So far 2199 km.